System and Methods for Eyelet Inserts

ABSTRACT

An eyelet insert adapted to be inserted on to an eyelet of a fabric. The eyelet insert comprising of a circular plate headed screw top portion and a flat receiving nut bottom portion. The eyelet insert engages the eyelet circumferentially and also makes way for displaying an ornamental object. The eyelet insert offering customizable and interchangeable options to create a personalized look based on a user&#39;s desired purpose.

CROSS REFERENCES TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 62/309,691, filed Mar. 17, 2016, entitled as “System and Methods for Ornamental Inserts For Eyelets”, which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

FIELD OF INVENTION

The present inventive subject matter relates to an insert for eyelets, and more particularly to an eyelet insert engaged by an eyelet and adapted to display a desired ornamental object.

BACKGROUND

Recently, it has become increasingly popular, especially among children, to wear and display insignias, cartoon characters, words and phrases on shirts, jackets, hats and other articles of clothing. This popularity has spurred the growth of a substantial industry supplying such ornamental items.

An eyelet is a ring or edge strip inserted into a hole through a thin base material, typically a sheet of textile fabric, sheet metal and/or composite of carbon fiber, wood or honeycomb. Eyelets are generally flared or collared on each side to keep them in place, and are often made of metal, plastic, or rubber. They may be used to prevent tearing or abrasion of the pierced material and to cover sharp edges of the piercing. The eyelets on a base material, provide a way for inserting and displaying desired ornamental objects on the outward surface of the base material.

U.S. Pat. No. 2,801,477 issued to J. D. Adams provides for ornamental attachments for use with articles of footwear. However, the article of footwear must be specially designed to include transparent pockets on its side walls to receive a decorative insert.

U.S. Pat. No. 743,924 issued to S. L. Pratt proposes an ornamental bow attached to an article of footwear utilizing the lace thereon and a specially designed metallic body. The metallic body is used to secure the lacing without the necessity of tying the lace. Such a device would interfere with the normal tying process of the lace and does not facilitate the use of large ornament designs to be attached thereto.

U.S. Pat. No. 6,477,754 issued to Alexander describes a decorative device attachable to a shoelace on a shoe more particularly relates to the attachment of a visibly distinctive logo to a shoe.

U.S. Pat. No. 8,516,725 issued to J. George describes a present invention relates to an improvement in an accessory for footwear. More particularly, the present invention relates to an accessory insert that enables the substitution of a more decorative elongated member such as a chain member in place of the standard foot wear lacing.

Despite these prior art, there is still a need for an improved means of inserting or displaying ornamental objects on an eyelet of a base material. The present inventive subject matter provides new and improved methods for inserting ornamental objects onto eyelets.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In accordance with the practice of the present inventive subject matter, there is provided an eyelet insert for attaching on to an eyelet of a base material.

It is an object of the present inventive subject matter to provide a method for an eyelet insert for engagement with an eyelet of a base material.

It is also an object to provide such an eyelet insert permitting the display of different decals.

Another object is to provide such an eyelet insert which can be readily coupled to an eyelet and is readily removable or interchangeable.

Another object is to provide such an eyelet insert which is customizable according to the needs of a user.

A further object is to provide such an eyelet insert which may be readily and easily assembled by a simple screw and nut mechanism.

A further object is to provide such an eyelet insert which may be readily and economically fabricated and which exhibits reasonable long life.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1: Illustrates an exploded bottom up view of the screw and nut based eyelet insert.

FIG. 2: Illustrates an embodiment showing a charm like eyelet insert.

FIG. 3: Illustrates an embodiment showing a crystal bead like eyelet insert.

FIG. 4: Illustrates an embodiment showing a flower like eyelet insert.

FIG. 5: Illustrates a kit for ornamental eyelet insert and its accessories.

FIG. 6: Illustrates method steps.

OVERVIEW OF SELECTED REFERENCE CHARACTERS

100—Illustrates FIG. 1

110—Bottom portion

115—Internal threading on the bottom nut portion

120—Gasket

130—Metallic spacer

140—Spring base of top portion

150—External threading on the top screw portion

160—Top portion flat plate

170—Open /Display portion of flat plate

180—Thin ring

185—Connector for thin ring

190—Ornamental appendant

200—Illustrates FIG. 2

300—Illustrates FIG. 3

400—Illustrates FIG. 4

500—Kit for eyelet insert and accessories

600—Illustrated a method for inserting an eyelet insert.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

In the following description, numerous specific details are set forth such as examples of specific materials, methods, components, etc. in order to provide a thorough understanding of the present inventive subject matter. It will be apparent, however, to one skilled in the art that these specific details need not be employed to practice the present inventive subject matter. In other instances, well-known materials or methods have not been described in detail in order to avoid unnecessarily obscuring the present invention.

An exemplary embodiment is as illustrated in FIG. 1, wherein, a screw and nut based eyelet insert is described in system 100. FIG. 1 shows an exploded bottom-up view of an eyelet insert for an eyelet. The bottom nut portion 110 of the eyelet insert 100 has an internal threading 115. The top screw portion 160 has a flat circular plate like structure 170 and has spring 150 enveloping the external threading 150 of the screw portion. A metallic spacer 130 and a rubber/silicone gasket 120 help in securely attaching the top screw portion 160 on to the bottom nut portion 110. The flat plate like structure 170 can be used for attaching on any desired ornamental display object by simply gluing it on. A thin ring structure 180 connected to an ornamental object 190 by a connector 185 can be added on for displaying additional ornamental objects.

Although there is wide variety of materials that can be used to fabricate the various components, some preferred materials are provided as follows. In a preferred embodiment, the screw and nut inserts are made up of metallic materials and the decorative appendants may be made of fabric, plastics, wood, glass and the like.

An eyelet insert can be attached to an eyelet by varied means of attachment like a screw on, press on, hook on, snapped on or a magnetic attachment technique or the like. The advantage of all these types of attachments being that they can be easily detached and are customizable based on application preferences.

It should be appreciated by those of ordinary skill that the specific structural and material configurations of the screw and nut portion are exemplary only. Other design configurations may be used that generally fall within the spirit and scope of the present disclosure.

In a preferred embodiment with reference to a screw and nut based eyelet insert as described in system 100 of FIG. 1, the bottom nut portion has a diameter ranging between 0.2 to 0.4 inches, the flat plate of the top screw portion has a diameter of 0.6 to 0.8 inches and the overall length of the insert in a installed position would be ranging between 0.4 to 0.6 inches. Illustrations in FIG. 2-4 describe the different preferred embodiments of the present inventive subject matter. FIG. 2 illustrates an embodiment where a charm like appendant is attached as an eyelet insert on to an eyelet of a footwear. FIG. 3 illustrates an embodiment where a crystal-like display object is attached as an eyelet insert on to an eyelet of a footwear. FIG. 4 illustrates an embodiment where a flower-like display object is attached as an eyelet insert on to an eyelet of a footwear.

Now referring to FIG. 5, 500 represents a kit used for inserting an eyelet insert. The kit mainly includes, ring like appendants, flower like appendants 410, Rhine stone like appendants 310, charms like appendants 190 and the base nut to receive the appendants, when attached to a fabric material. The kit provides for a customizable and interchangeable options to create a personalized look based on a user's desired purpose.

The method of appending an eyelet insert is as shown in FIG. 6. Firstly, an eyelet to be decorated on a fabric is selected 610. A bottom portion of the eyelet insert is inserted into the eyelet from the bottom side of a fabric material 620. The bottom portion of the eyelet insert is pulled out to the surface of the fabric 630. A metallic spacer and gasket are added on and optionally a ring like insert which is connected to the ornamental display object can be added on 640. The upper portion with the screw is inserted and threaded down to secure the insert on to the eyelet 650. If required additional ornamental display objects can be glued to the upper open plate 660.

Persons skilled in the art will recognize that many modifications and variations are possible in the details, materials, and arrangements of the parts and actions which have been described and illustrated in order to explain the nature of this inventive concept and that such modifications and variations do not depart from the spirit and scope of the teachings and claims contained therein.

All patent and non-patent literature cited herein is hereby incorporated by references in its entirety for all purposes. 

We claim:
 1. An eyelet insert adapted to be inserted on to an eyelet of a fabric comprising: a top portion; a bottom portion; and the top portion being equipped to be connected to the bottom portion.
 2. The eyelet insert as described in claim 1, further comprising of a metallic spacer and a gasket, placed in-between the top portion and the bottom portion.
 3. The eyelet insert as described in claim 1, wherein the top portion is connected to the bottom portion by a screw and nut connection.
 4. The eyelet insert as described in claim 1, wherein the top portion has a screw base with external threading and is enveloped by a spring structure.
 5. The eyelet insert as described in claim 1, wherein the bottom portion has a screw base with internal threading.
 6. The eyelet insert described in claim 1, wherein the top portion is headed by a flat plate structure.
 7. The eyelet insert described in claim 1, wherein the flat plate structure has a capability to get affixed to ornamental display objects.
 8. The eyelet insert as described in claim 1, wherein the top portion and the bottom portion are made of material chosen from a group of metals, plastic or wood.
 9. The eyelet insert as described in claim 1, wherein the top portion is connected to the bottom portion by a snap on connection.
 10. The eyelet insert as described in claim 1, wherein the top portion is connected to the bottom portion by a magnetic connection.
 11. The eyelet insert as described in claim 1, wherein the top portion is connected to the bottom portion by a hook-on connection.
 12. A kit of installation of a eyelet insert on a eyelet of a fabric material, the kit comprising: a shipping box, the box further comprising: a pair of flower based eyelet inserts; a pair of rhine stone based eyelet inserts; a pair of charm based eyelet insert; and a pair of spacers and gaskets.
 13. A method for installing an eyelet insert on an eyelet of a fabric material: selecting an eyelet for embellishing; inserting a bottom portion of the eyelet insert from under the fabric material; pulling out the bottom portion onto above the surface of the fabric; inserting the metallic spacer and gasket; inserting the upper portion with screw base into the bottom portion; and threading down the screw to securely fix the eyelet insert to the eyelet.
 14. The method of installing an eyelet insert on an eyelet of a fabric material as described in claim 13, wherein a ring like insert can be appended on to display ornamental objects. 